The inventive concept relates generally to computing programs used by electronic systems or devices, and more particularly, to techniques for updating the computing programs.
A computing program comprises a set of instructions used to control or perform operations in an electronic system or device. For instance, a computing program may comprise an application program, a utility program, an operating system (OS) program, and so on.
During the lifetime of a particular electronic device, its computing programs may need to be updated periodically, e.g., by installing new program code or modifying existing program code. A typical update procedure for such a device comprises steps for acquiring, installing, executing, and loading new program data. This is often accomplished through the use of an install file containing information to control the update procedure.
In many modern electronic devices, computing programs are updated on a relatively frequent basis. Accordingly, the performance of update procedures can have a significant impact on the overall performance of a device. Examples of devices that may perform frequent updates include personal computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, and smart phones, to name but a few.
In view of the potential impact that update procedures may have on the overall performance of some devices, there is a general need to provide update procedures and related operations with efficient performance.